A New Knight
by HikuruTheNovist
Summary: This is a strict AU of Batman, a territorial themed story. Bruce is sick, Gotham is divided into 4 sections of territory, Bane wants ALL of Gotham to himself. Rated M: Language, Violence.


A dark and gloomy night in Gotham City, crime has gone up into the 80% range ever since Bruce Wayne was forced to retire as the Batman, but in this case it has gotten much worse. The major threats to Gotham wanted more of that city than they anticipated, Joker thought of a great idea to split the city among the 4 villains. Joker and his clowns took North Gotham since it was the richest part of that city. Mr. Freeze decided on the east side since it was closest to the water, apparently he had some idea to make his side all snowy. Bane took control over the south side, which was then barred off by Joker and Freeze because of Bane's harsh antics to the people there. Ivy, she didn't want to take any sides, she implied that if she was going to take over Gotham, it would be the entire city, not just one small portion. So the west side of Gotham was the only side that wasn't controlled and was not being threatened by any means.

There was a young man who unfortunately for him had to live in Bane's territory, this man was Damien Cooper, he lived dealing with abuse from the people who lived there, and his parents. The fact he lived to the age of 23 amazed him, his struggle was the thing that motivated him to better himself in times like these.

Damien was walking through his section of Gotham, glass breaking everywhere, screams being heard throughout various alleyways, it's safe to say Gotham had gone to hell and there was little anyone could do about it.

"HELP!"

A scream alerted Damien as he ran to the location of the scream, he saw 3 guys wearing a familiar mask. It's obvious that it was a set of Bane's men, they had a defenseless woman pinned against the wall, cuts up and down her body, it seems as if they were set for a rape.

"Let her go.." he spoke softly while clenching his fists, moving closer to the group of men.

One guy walked up to Damien and smirked "What are you going do if we don't? Huh?" the man said, lightly shoving the younger man.

A low chuckle is heard from Damien, and a cryptic like smirk is shown on his face. "Thank you.." he uttered before swinging his fists at the 1st henchman's face. The others ran at Damien, holding him against the wall as they attacked the young man.

"Keep hold of him boys! Time to introduce him to Mr. Shatter!" one henchmen said as he pulled out a stack of light tubes, taking his time to strike since he wanted to be precise.

Damien struggling to break free, but the people holding him punched at his gut, causing him cough blood. The henchman swung the light tube stack over the back of Damien's head, making him bleed on impact. The young man shaking a bit before loosing consciousness, the henchmen threw him down to the ground.

"What are we going to do with him?"

"I don't know, let's see what he has on him."

Before they could inspect Damien, a dark figure was seen at the end of the alleyway, it looked rather obvious.

"B-Batman!?"

It was indeed Batman, he took out the 3 henchmen in what seemed like a quick swoop. After he made easy work of the henchmen he walked over to the bludgeoned up Damien and sighed. "This will be a pain to do." he said before departing the area with Damien over his shoulder.

Damien woke up in a foreign room, it was a big area for sure, filled with antiques, paintings, artifacts that look cool enough to touch but probably fragile enough to break if held wrong. He got up to look around the room, amazed at everything in it. "This crap is amazing.."

"That crap you are looking at is worth billions." Bruce said as he walked over to Damien.

The young man looked over to Bruce and smiled a bit. "You're Bruce Wayne, the retired billionaire, I guess that explains where I am at, question is why?"

Bruce chuckled and looked out the window to see Gotham under a thunderstorm. "I brought you here." he explained, turning his head back slightly to look at Damien. "In case you haven't heard, I am very ill.. I don't have long to live, and I am looking for someone to bring justice back to Gotham."

Damien was shocked, and caught on to what Bruce had just told him. "You're Batman, and you're looking for a new hero of Gotham?"

"Only if you're willing to make sacrifices." Bruce answered smiling slightly at his soon-to-be apprentice.

Damien shrugged and nodded. "I got nothing to loose, so why not?"

Only minutes later Damien was on the ground pouring with sweat at everything Bruce had done. "Come on, this isn't even a warm up and you are already tired?" he barked at Damien in hopes to aggravate the young man.

Damien got up slowly, breathing softly. "B-Bruce, you are insane.." he said once before getting hit in the leg with a kendo stick.

"Rule one: No back talk. If you are going to be Gotham's new hero, you are going to shape up, and be proper." Bruce said as he strike down on Damien's other leg. Damien yelping in pain, but not going down by any means. "Rule two: DEFENSE!" he yelled out.

Bruce took another swing, this time though Damien grabbed the kendo stick then lightly kicked Bruce's hand, making him relinquish the stick. Bruce had an impressed look on his face, he then pulled out 3 Batarangs tossing them at Damien in the same motion. Damien hit one with the kendo stick, ducked under the second one then jumped up doing a quarter turn kick upon the third one, sending it back towards Bruce whom caught it.

"Well it's clear you don't need conditioning, at least not as much. I want you to utilize the mansion as your training grounds, there is an obstacle course upstairs if you feel the need to, I got work I need to do.." Bruce happily told Damien before leaving the room.

Damien's eyes widened a bit as he smiled. _"Did THE Bruce Wayne just basically tell me I can live here? I wish I could go tell this to all the kids who bullied me in middle school about my awesome future."_ he thought to himself before running around the mansion cheering pretty loud. "Woo-hoo!" he exclaimed before getting a towel thrown at him.

"No disrespect young sir, but shut up, I am trying to catch up on my readings." Alfred said in an angered tone before walking back to his room.

"My bad old guy, I will keep the noise down." He said softly, then ran up the stairs to look at the obstacle course that Bruce had in his house. "Holy shit.. This is awesome!" he exclaimed but not too loud this time.

Damien was going through the obstacle course quite a bit, it made him tired but it got the job done. Speaking of job, Bruce Wayne walked into the room watching Damien closely, the movements that he makes, how light on his feet he was, Bruce Wayne was studying this young man. _"This kid.. He is definitely what Gotham needs.. He can bring peace to the people of this city.."_

* * *

Meanwhile over in south Gotham, word spread about Damien's escape, this did not please Bane too well, he had called over Joker and Mr. Freeze to discuss this situation.

"Gentlemen.. We have a problem on our hands" said Bane with a gruff Spanish accent. "One of my prisoners has escaped with the Batman, this could be fatal for us, especially since we know about him being critical right now."

Joker laughed a bit, unknown at what but he laughed. "How does this phase us oh mighty luchador?" he continued to laugh which caused Bane to charge at him, grabbing the laughing maniac.

"You think this is a game Joker? For all we know, this could be the thing that divides us!" Bane yelled out while slamming Joker against the wall.

"Bane! Chill out, the only one that is separating us is you! You're the one that is letting your paranoia get the best of you, you are the one who decided to run the people to the point of suicide. THIS attitude is why we barred your end of the city from the rest of us." Freeze said with a stern look on his face.

Bane had a low-hearted chuckle as he released Joker and cryptically walked over to Mr. Freeze. "Chill out.. I need to.. _"Chill out"?_" he spoke softly before grabbing Mr. Freeze, breaking his neck as easily as a toothpick.

Joker's eyes widened, he wanted to scream in disgust but could only laugh. "Y-You killed him Bane! This time he didn't deserve it, I know I do mass killings and all but he was our friend!" he said in a serious yet happy tone.

"Oh Joker, your attempts to sound caring about someone else is rather, hilarious.. Now I want you to have your men break down that wall, and allow me to expand my territory over Freeze's, and if you interfere.. I won't be so f_riendly_ towards you." Bane's voice went deeper the closer he got to Joker. "Is that understood?"

Joker slowly, but reluctantly nodded, disgusted by seeing the death of a beloved friend Joker cowered away from the room to make a phone call. "Harley, Fries is dead.." Joker spoke softly.

"_Oh my god Mr. J.. How did he die? Frostbite?"_

Joker sighed and snapped. "Harley! This isn't the time for joking, I need you to call off the men from attacking south Gotham, instead.. Have them take down the barrier."

"_Okay, okay.. Love ya babe"_ she hung up, as did Joker.

"Joker.. I forgot to say, I am taking over the entire city of Gotham. With or without your assistance, prepare for a war.." Bane started to cackle maniacally before leaving the room.

* * *

"Okay how can you say that CSI: New York is better than the original?" Bruce asked as he sat across the table from Damien.

"How is it not Bruce? You got Gary Sinise playing Mac Taylor, one of the baddest of the bad asses, I idolize him." Damien explained with a hint of a chuckle.

Bruce laughed with the younger man. "If New York was so great, why did it get canceled?" he asked while raising an eyebrow.

Damien held his gut in emotional pain. "That was low, very low. No points for you Bruce Wayne." he retorted.

"Oh kid, I have a feeling you and I will get along perfectly. Now I have a couple errands I need you to run for me, it'll give you something to do while I get some work done." Bruce told Damien as he got up to leave the room. "The instructions are on your phone."

Damien made a surprised face. "I don't have a- Holy crap I got a phone!" he said pulling the phone out of his pocket to read the list of things Bruce needed him to do.

Bruce chuckled lightly watching his apprentice leave the room, he looked at a screen that showcased the map of Gotham, he noticed that there was turmoil over by the police department.

"_This is Commissioner Gordon, we need back up. Any higher up military please! Gotham may not-"_

"May not what.. May not what!" Bruce slammed his fists into his desk, he looked over to Alfred with regret "Alfred.. It's been nice knowing you. Take care of Damien for me." he requested before departing into a dark room.

"I have a feeling that I should have submitted my retirement before that request." Alfred spoke to himself as he left for his room.

Damien had a bag of food in one hand, and his phone in the other hand feeling excited about how much he had moved on in so little time. He walked over to a bench, sat down on it and looked up at the night sky. "Man.. Today was great to me." he smiled a bit.

"Really? Today was boring to me." a happy voice was talking from behind Damien.

The young man looked over and smiled "I guess it's all a matter of who is experiencing what." he scooted over a bit to let the woman sit down "I am Damien Cooper, your name?" he said while holding his hand out.

The woman sat down, gently taking his hand and shaking it lightly "Name's Harleen.. Harleen Quinzel." she smiled back at Damien.

"_Harleen Quinzel.. Why does that name sound familiar?"_ he let go of her hand and looked back at the sky. "So, glasses and a long coat. A doctor?" Damien asked.

The blonde's eyes widened a bit "Y-Yeah, how did you guess?" she asked turning towards him.

Damien smirked a bit "Growing up how I did, you learn to observe things. Like your badge, it was visible when you were taking your seat. Also your hair is done up in a ponytail, plus the glasses you were sporting. In this crazy city you are either a doctor or a librarian." he calmly explained looking into Harleen's eyes.

"_O-Okay, this kid is something else. I gotta talk to Mr. J about this.."_ she lightly giggled at his comment "You are pretty good, so the groceries in that bag. Am I to guess that you are a caregiver? Or are you just doing some shopping for yourself?" she asked while resting her left leg on her right.

"I am just running some errands right now, waiting for the next bus to get here." he sighed while rubbing his left arm. "I am so damn cold right now.." he softly said to himself.

Harleen frowned at the sight of Damien shivering _"Poor kid.."_ she looked down at her own bag _"I forgot the blanket I made.. It was going to go to my kid.. Before complications.."_ she lightly bit her lower lip then pulled the blanket out, placing it over Damien's shoulders. "Keep it kid, you need it right now.. Keep smiling, Gotham could use some happiness around here." she expressed before walking away from Damien.

"_She is awfully nice.. The blanket is perfectly stitched too.. Thanks Harleen."_ he smiled some more then looked at his phone, it was flashing red and a text popped up saying _"REPORT BACK TO WAYNE MANOR"_ he gasped slightly, getting up with the blanket he started running towards the manor.

Damien busted open the door to the main room of the manor to see Bruce Wayne's body laying on the floor. "B-Bruce!?" he exclaimed as he ran to the body, turning it to where they are facing each other. "Don't worry sir, I will get some help."

"Damien.. No, that won't be needed. Stay for a little bit, long enough to say these last words." Bruce struggled to speak. "L-Listen You need to learn about what is going to happen with Gotham.. Bane is taking control.. He killed Freeze and is wanting all of Gotham under his power.. I tried.. I tried to save the people at the Gotham Police Department.."

"Y-You can make it right?" his voice started to shake a bit. "I mean it looks like a few bumps and bruises, nothing too bad." Damien began to panic "Gotham needs you Bruce.."

Bruce chuckled at the young man, handing him the Batman mask. "Kid.. Gotham needs you now.. I am hanging my cape.." he uttered before his heart gave way.

Damien's heart fell at Bruce's final words, tears dripped down his face, seeing his teacher die in his arms. "F-Fuck.." he looked up at the ceiling with his lips quivering from how sad he was. The man who took him in was now dead, the man this kid looked up to growing up, his hero, dead. "I will kill who ever did this to you Bruce.."

"That's good kid, now actually find the people who did this and do the killing part." A woman, green, with a long red flannel shirt, walking towards Damien. "Then maybe that will bring him back, right?" she asked in a barking tone of voice.

Damien turned towards the woman, standing up, scrunching his nose angrily "Who the hell are you? Did you cause this? Did you kill him!?" he yelled out.

The woman smirked slightly and shook her head. "Trust me, I wouldn't come back to the scene of the crime. He is somewhat important to me, he took care of my lovelies when I was in the Asylum." she explained walking closer to the young man.

"What do you want with me.." he asked with a broken tone of voice. "What are you doing here.."

"Heh. Come with me, and you will find out.." she replied, smirking some more. "I promise, I won't kill you.. If anything I am going to help you take out Bane." she said before walking away.

Damien looked at her with curious eyes, sighed softly "If you try anything, I will retaliate." his voice was low when he walked along with her. "Understand?"

The woman chuckled softly "I have heard that threat before. It will take more than that to scare me honey." she said before turning to him, cupping his face, then lightly breathed at Damien. Pink smoke drifted into Damien's lungs, knocking him unconscious. She laughed more "It's a good thing he's cute, otherwise I wouldn't be willing to tolerate him."

* * *

**A/N:** I hope this was good, my first crack at a Batman fic. I hope you enjoyed this, I will add more to the story at some point. Probably more development for Damien, to help him become the new Batman.


End file.
